SPIRITUAL PRACTICES: FASTING by Cheri Holdridge (with assists by Shannon Kelley & Kurt Young)

So, are you giving up something for Lent? Or are you adding something to your routine for Lent? You see it’s actually just as valid a Lenten practice to add something, as to take something away. The point is, that in about 5 weeks, we are going to celebrate Holy Week. We are going to journey to the cross with Jesus again. We are going to hear the story of how one of Jesus’ closest friends betrays him, and how the people who followed him all over the countryside, and followed him, then turned on him and handed him over for execution. We are going to walk that journey up the hill to the cross and read that painful story of his sacrificial death. ALL so we can celebrate the amazing miracle of his resurrection – and the promise that God gives us eternal life beyond this temporal world.

And so, every year, Christians prepare ourselves with this season we call Lent. And we take on some Spiritual Practices. Lent began on Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. We gathered here for a traditional service of marking our forehead with the sign of the cross, in ashes, to remember our mortality. We made our confessions to God and gave thanks that God always forgives us. These are the rituals of this season. And as I have said before, even though we don’t maintain all the church traditions here at The Village, we do maintain SOME tradition.

There is a reason why rituals last across time. They have meaning. We are a people who need ritual. We are spiritual creatures. We experience mystery in life, and we need ritual to help us lean into that mystery, and meet God.

One spiritual practice, a ritual of sorts, is fasting. This is a hard one for most of us. We don’t get it. Truth be told, lots of us, me included, have at times, confused religious fasting with a weight loss method. Let me be clear, they are two completely separate things. I don’t know about the pros and cons of fasting for weight loss so we won’t go there today.

But we will talk about fasting as a spiritual practice. Now, fasting can be a decision to refrain from a variety of things. Fasting is emptying ourselves so we make room for God. I will talk about some of the other options for fasting. But first, our own Shannon Kelley has volunteered to share some of her own experiences with fasting from food, so I’d like to invite her to come speak now.

SHANNON KELLEY:

I grew up in a Methodist church where we were encouraged to give up a certain something for lent – sweets one year, swearing another, etc. Also, went to a Catholic high school that practiced lent fasting from meat on Fridays. Then in college I was in a relationship where I participated in the Islamic practice of fasting for Ramadan for a few years. This fast involves not eating or drinking anything from sunrise to sunset for a month once a year.

The first couple of weeks, it was difficult and I found myself asking God for help to make it through. And I often would have to remind myself that I was doing this because God has given so much to me. And why couldn’t I do this once small thing when Jesus gave up His life for me.

But after some time, the difficulties of fasting get taken over by a feeling of getting closer to God. With something (in this case food) gone that takes up my time and effort, I was able to see God more in my life. This fasting brought me closer to Him. Maybe it can be related to a small scale feeling similar to missionaries that strip themselves of excess in search of greater faith.

It was a new way to experience religion with my whole body. I found myself not looking forward to eating dinner as much as just the experience the rest of the time. The absence of “stuff” reveals the God that is always there at work. Fasting is about you and God – it can strengthen your relationship with Him. It is your commitment to Him, so no one will care if you trip up (I sure have on occasion).

Therefore, if you have even considered fasting this lent, you should just start now. So what if you’ve missed the first 4 or 5 days. You make it your own. That’s what I’ve come to realize in all of my wise 24 years. It will be your own, so your experience won’t be the same as mine. It could help to participate in one of the lent connection groups to have someone you can talk to to help keep you accountable or just someone to talk about your experience.

When Shannon spoke with me about her experience this is the statement that stuck with me: “Emptying yourself you see all the excess in your life. You can see God more at work.” By giving up food, she made space to see God.

I believe we can use fasting is an amazing spiritual resource available to us, and it is one that for the most part, it untapped.

Here are some ideas:

· John Wesley’s fast, dinner one night until dinner the next night

· Give up something that eats lots of time;

a. Facebook

b. Tv

c. Radio in the car

d. White noise

· One thing you really enjoy eating or drinking

a. The desire for the thing is a reminder to put your attention on God, say a prayer, give thanks, remember the sacrifice of Jesus,

· Give up a bad habit

a. Purpose is to use this season, to turn to God for strength to do something that we know we need to do anyway; If you can break a habit for 40 days, it might just stick

b. Negative talk about anything or anyone you find yourself wasting too much time and energy on

c. Over-committing

d. All of these things will free up time and energy for God – for something more positive in your life.

· One last thing about fasting. Every Sunday is like a little Easter, so you are allowed to enjoy the thing you are giving up on Easter. Now of course, you can decide your own practice, but that is the tradition.

So, what will your Lenten practice be? What are you going to do (or refrain from doing) in order to move closer to God during this season? We have talked about several options in these past few weeks:

· Deepen your daily prayer life

· Join a Connection Group

· Almsgiving – give money to help the poor

· Service in the community

· Fasting

Join us as we journey towards that miracle that is the Easter story.